A full sushi bar, juice bars, baristas. The latest additions to the Westfield mall's food court in San Francisco?

No, we're talking here about Walgreens, the nation's largest drugstore chain, and its latest additions to stores in New York, Hollywood and Chicago. A sushi bar would have been included at Walgreens' remodeled 19,000-square-foot flagship at Union Square, but "there are so many sushi restaurants in the area" - 32 within walking distance - that the company decided to take a pass here, according to a Walgreens executive.

Still, there's going to be plenty of food among the "specialty items" when the Powell Street store, expanded to a second floor (replacing a Lori's Diner), reopens in the spring. Although the company would not disclose details, a bakery, smoothie and coffee bar, and "fine wines" have been mentioned previously.

There's also going to be more fresh food and groceries for sale in the Bay Area in 2013 when Target opens three stores in San Francisco, Alameda and Petaluma; Walmart unveils two more "neighborhood markets" in Pleasanton and San Jose; and new and repurposed Whole Foods Market and Safeway stores open.

Not to mention the approximately 30 Walgreens stores in the Bay Area that already carry an ever-widening selection of fresh food and grocery items.

"Drug stores, particularly in urban locations, will increasingly be adding food selection beyond the typical canned goods and cooler beverage selections," according to a report sent by commercial real estate consultancy Cassidy Turley last month to 14,000 executives in the real estate and financial industries nationwide. "Look for more sandwiches, salads and meals-to-go that will also compete with fast food and fast casual players."

And look for the grocery wars to become even more intense.

Oasis or mirage? One combatant has fallen by the wayside, leaving a number of Bay Area neighborhoods stranded in underserved "food deserts."

Fresh & Easythrew in the towel last month after its parent, British supermarket giant Tesco, which poured $1.6 billion over five years into 199 small-format stores in California, Nevada and Arizona, decided it couldn't wait any longer for the U.S. venture to turn a profit.

That means Fresh & Easy's 19 stores in the Bay Area - including two opened in 2011 in San Francisco's Bayview and Richmond districts, one in the Portola that opened last year, plus a fourth planned for the Mission District this year - face a very uncertain future.

"The strategic review of the business has just started; there are no time frames or predetermined outcomes," said spokesman Brendan Wonnacott. As of now, "it's business as usual for all our stores" - except for the unopened ones, like the 16,200-square-foot store at the long-vacant Delano's site on South Van Ness Avenue in the Mission.

Tesco has hired New York M&A specialists Greenhill to shop Fresh & Easy assets around, and Walmart, which is looking to open as many as 115 smaller-format "neighborhood markets" nationwide in 2013, has been mentioned as a prime candidate.

"We can't comment on any rumors or speculation, but we're always looking for opportunities to serve customers better," said Walmart spokeswoman Delia Garcia. "We do think there is a need for affordable fresh food in the Bay Area." "There are a number of companies expressing interest, including ours," said MacGregor Read, co-CEO of Berkeley's Grocery Outlet. The deep discounter, which has 185 independently owned and operated stores nationwide, including 29 in the Bay Area, is opening 21 new locations, mostly in the Western United States. Two of them are in San Francisco - in the underserved Visitacion Valley and Outer Richmond neighborhoods.

"We're growing at a pretty good clip," said Read. "The whole scene is changing. Everybody wants to sell groceries."

Ripe for the plucking: With 755 U.S. locations and annual sales approaching $250 million last year, could Emeryville's Jamba Juice be ripe for a takeover in 2013, as Berkeley's Peet's Coffee & Tea was last year?

According to Bloomberg News, which keeps track of deals in the food and beverage industry, Jamba is one of the companies that "may be targeted for their well-known brand names and the chance to expand into grocery and mass retail stores" this year.

In addition to its line of smoothies and energy drinks, Jamba also sells wraps, sandwiches and salads, items increasingly featured at mass retailers like Walmart, Target - which already carries Jamba Juice products - and Walgreens.

"It would be relatively cheap from a strategic acquisition standpoint. They already have a very large store presence. It's already a brand name," said John Gordon, a restaurant industry economist at Pacific Management Consulting Groupin San Diego.

"The best talent often lives in New York, or wants to," said co-chairman Rich Silverstein. The outpost will apparently include West Coast refugees - "specifically those who previously left San Francisco for New York," according to a GSP spokeswoman.

However, two senior staffers from San Francisco's 500-person office will be heading up the shop: executive creative director Christian Haasand associate partner Nancy Reyes. Initially, they'll be handling the agency's Google, YouTube and Comcast accounts from there.